Czuch Chuckers: How would that work? With a multi-player game, players "moving" at the same time, it would not work.

Pedro Martínez: I think he means this one:

http://brainking.com/en/Pond?g=820

4 players tied - Fencer just happens to be on the "top", even though I do not think it matters.

Vikings: SHHHH!!! If you say it outloud it will not come true!

Vikings: I had moved up into the 40's also not too long ago. I have not started anything new for awhile, so hopefully I will not be caught off-guard when I do start some new ponds!

Nothingness: But at the same time, when there are 15+ players left, someone with 19,500 and another with 20,000 are basicly tied. I guess it would be good if you can gain a good amount of points any time you can, but at least in my eyes, it is not even worth it in the early rounds.

But I've also noticed that if someone does "steal" a bonus with a low bid like 50, the next round many will go after the bonus since everyone seen how easy it was the round before I use to get caught up with that, but it's pointless in the early rounds.

Nothingness: I would disagree - that is I think it would be pointless to do any research of the first few rounds.

That is if everyone else bids in the 20's and you bid in the 50's - you lose 30 points. 30 points almost makes no difference in the game, and it still amusing to watch people try to get low first bids in the 20's when the points saved are basicly pointless that early in the game.

3 things would need to be researched.

1) The end game of players - about last 5-6 rounds of a game.

2) When they go for the bonus. For example: 6 people left. 5 people have 2,000+ points, 6th person has 0 points left. Who will just maintain and bid 1, and who will go for the bonus - and how high will the bid for the 500 point bonus.

3) mid-game could use a little research also. For example, last low bid was 2,000. Everyone still has over 10,000 points - what will people bid. Who will bid about 1,000 over the low 2,000, and who will bid double the last low bid (4,000). If I see a good mix of these 2 types of people, my bid is 3,500.

The 383 bid was logical because Mat. was going to either 1st or 3rd place. I can see him taking a chance. 383 was logical because you could guess that grenv would bet the 888.

But Arctic's bet of 1 does no good for him. There is almost no way that a bet of 1 will help him at all. I might be able to understand a lower bet of 100, or 200, or 300 or something - but 1 does nothing except make sure he ends up in 3rd place. Pointless and i think a stupid bid.

Nothingness: What bid could have Grenv had made to assure himself a win? There was nothing when the other 2 players bid below what should have been the "min" bid amount for the players.

Nothingness: But in this case he would have ended up in 2nd, not 3rd. Again, no point in bidding 1.

It's stupid to me. I mean if Arctic Warrior would have just bid what he had (500), he would be end up in 2nd place instead of 3rd place. There is absolutly nothing good that will help him by just bidding 1.

tonyh: or simple logoff and view that information as a guest.

grenv: Actually there is a very simple solution. Dark Ponds

Pedro Martínez: so what happened? (to make them bid like that?)

Pedro Martínez: Well I'm glad I was not in that pond. The cheat waited almost a day into the 5 day pond before telling some people what he was bidding, and I would have already made my bid and never would have seen the message until it was too late.

Goonerg: ..... or banned from playing ponds again. Ruins the fun of everyone when people cheat.

Vikings: Um.... well I have nothing to add to what you said.....


.... other then a clickable link so everyone can see more easly.

http://brainking.com/en/Pond?bms=44&g=506

Bry: I would guess since the bids from the round before were almost all in the 800's, we took a gamble that there would be some player who would still bid a little lower.

Paid off, saved him a couple of hundred points, and now leads..... just a little less then 1000 points ahead of me.....

Well you guys can take whatever chance you want. If I'm currently in last place with only a few players left, I have basicly given up on winning the pond - so by bidding everything I have will either mean I still fall in the current round, or possible stay around 1 more round. I'm happy with that.

Vikings: When Fencer added the history to the pond games (able to look at past moves), some games like that just did not convert very well - not adding the bonuses or something - giving a lot of false numbers.

ScarletRose: Yes, the person who bids 343 will be the winner. Actually they will have 500 points left at the end since they will earn the bonus.

Skyking: Short answer is you can't.

Long answer:

(1) Make sure you put something like "(Fellowship members only)" in the TITLE. If you just put it in the description, some will miss it.

(2) Then before it starts, you will have to go through manually and remove any non-members who signed up - since there is no way to automaticly do it. (So also don't do a dark pond since you can't see who signs up)

Hello

We are currently looking for a new moderator of this board. Are you interested?

More Information: Check out the Members only board

To Apply: Just Send me a Message

PLEASE do not post if here since I may miss it, just send me a message. Also feel free to send me a message with any questions.

Also if you know you are going to be gone for a day or so, you can try to bid higher then normal - a bid that will hopefully keep you in the game until you can get back.

It might not leave you in the best position at the end of the game, but can at least keep you in the game (and you have to be in the game to win a game!)

First: It's not really fair to the other player if instead of playing the person they are meant to, they are playing "ringers" - who may play differently, or worse - beter then the person they are replacing.

Second: Except for ponds (and new tournaments without vacation days) - On this site it should not be a big deal. Just set some vacation days and use them - there should not be a need for someone else to play your games.

Thrid: This is the pond board, and we are quickly getting off the subject. Can we please move the conversation to another board? Thanks!

Lets take Pedro's advise from below - Lets go back to talking about Ponds.

I will start deleted messages if needed.

Thanks

Bry: I'm not sure why we would need to go through any extra trouble.

The solution is simple - let them bid 0, but they need to just not tell anyone what they are doing.

Czuch Chuckers: I only stated that I think it is cheating coming from a playing member.

A Global Moderator main purpose is to watch over the discussion boards, not to decide on who is cheating and what actions need to be taken. That's beyond me.

But saying what you are going to bid is like telling the other person in Battleboats where your boats are - or telling someone is Chess how to checkmate themselves.

Bry: The problem with someone who bids 0 should be the same as a resign, is lets say the lowest person on the list only has 200 points left. So of course, everyone else bids 201. But they decided to resign - leaving everyone with good 201 bids to fall into the pond. So that is not fair either.

Just bid 0 or 1, and don't tell anyone. Telling anyone is cheating. I don't know this "Scooter", but what he did is cheating in my opinion.

Andre Faria: Yea, I remember that happening in another pond early on (when it was still new for people.)

What happen was someone posted that they did not like the ponds and was going to bid 1 on the next turn.

Problem was I had already placed my bid and never got to see the message - and the few that did got to take advantage of the low bid

It is unfair. I mean if someone wants out, then fine - let them bid 1. But don't let the others know and give them an advantage.

grenv: Actually 3 minuts is a little short - hopefully no long bathroom breaks!

Maybe a quick 10-15 minute option (both for ponds and tournaments) would be good - that way it would be like almost playing a "live" game, but still a little wiggle room if you get pulled away for a few minutes.

REQUEST: When playing a pond, it is easy to tell the difference between a pond and a dark pond since in dark everything is hidden.

But I notice currently the only difference in the rain is the little "name" with a green dot near the top.

Is there a way you can make it look a little more different - possible put a green outline around the running players list so it will be easier to tell something is different (Like is done with all the chess variants so you can quickly tell what you are playing by the outline color)

Wow - 1 hour time limits - so basicly for a 16 player pond, you beter make sure you are on-line during the 15 hours following the start. (Well for rain, I guess it would be at least 7 hours.) (then again, I guess a little less if multiple players fall in.)

Would it make since to add a rule that says when the last 2 players are left, only the lowest bid will fall - leaving the higher bid to win?

Czuch Chuckers: I'm currently working on the details (and since I know there are going to be many questions - trying to get it right.)

But quick overview - will announce what boards need moderators - need to send me (or another global moderator) and note letting us know what board. Don't have to be an "expert" at the subject, but at least need to have knowledge of it. After a week or so, I will list all people who applied to Fencer & the other Global Moderators which at that time we will try to find someone who is the best for the job.

Again, that was just a quick overview - I'll include more details hopefully in the next few days maybe. :-)

I believe soon we will be taking "applications" for new moderators - to hopefully get some users who has not had a chance to help the site much - a chance to help moderate - which of course you, or anyone can apply for. (I will post details when we are ready.)

Pedro Martínez: I think it would also depend on the players (if it's not a dark pond). If they don't know what they are doing, they may only bid a little higher (500-1000 points) more then the last bid. If the remaining players have been around for awhile, then it may be higher.

Czuch Chucker: He is no longer a moderator.

Nothingness: Now that is hard - everyone still close in points (everyone still has a great chance to win.... and lose), and at the same time the points left are still high.

As a rule for myself, when there are 4 players left, I almost always try to make sure my bid is at least 1 point higher then the last place person. But with 5 player left... that can be tricky.

As another rule/trend that I notice - as long as player have the points left - the bids will get bigger and bigger. So if the last bet was in the high 4000s, and everyone still has more then that - I would expect that the bids to be at least that much - if not more.

So back to the question - what would I do? Hum.... that is a hard question. I would probable play it safe - at least bid what the lowest player has. In Vikings case, if he is going to bid 5780 - he might as well bid 5991 and get the 500 bonus.

Of course if a couple of the players left were unrated/unexperianced, that might change the way I play a little also - not sure.

It is a hard question - it's hard to bid almost all your points when there is still 5 player left.... Can't wait to see what Pedro would do.

ClayNashvilleTn: But isn't that part of the game - try to stay in as long as you can.... and if possible, get 1st place?

My vote would be to leave it how it is.

But I'm always up for something new, so if something like that does come along - I would suggest it be an option the pond creator can have instead of appling it to every pond.

Currently lets say a pond is a 1 day pond. That means I know I can be gone up to 47 hours and still make the pond (That is if you make a move right when the pond comes available, and then make your next move right before it gets ready to time out the next time.) The way it is set up now give a little cusion of extra time, where a new system would start giving you many different start/end times - which would be good for players on-line multiply times a day, but could hurt others.

So an option would be good, a change for all would not.

grenv: Hum... looks like you are correct. Running shows only what you are left in. Finished only shows the ponds that are completly complete.

So what you need to do is take the ponds in your finished, add those to the ponds in you running - then find out what is missing when you show the "all" and there - you can find out what ponds you have fallen into but the ponds are not complete!

.... and you did not think there was a way! :-)

My profile - Tournaments section - Ponds are listed below the tournaments.

Plus as a side note, the very big "very first pond" is now down to 39 players! The end is getting closer!

http://brainking.com/en/Pond?g=1

I'm just wondering why I was the only one to bid 1 more then the lowest person in this pond:

http://brainking.com/en/Pond?g=297

Just looking at that pond, and what I would guess is this.

Round before - Pedro had an auto-bid of 3377

If some people see this, they may take a chance and bid 3378 in the hopes that Pedro will still have the 3377 auto-bid.

And I know I've done this, I will be 2 above that (3379) to also be above the person who took a chance and bid 1 above.

Arctic Warrior: Well I recommend that Fencer roll back that pond 1 round and start fresh from there - Who else is with me?????

Vikings: Yea, not yet - but I was thinking of later. But like Luke said, it is also listed in the profile. So you can figure out who is in a pond with you, but just don't know which bet is theirs.

I've noticed that when I sign up for a dark pond, my own name still is in the list - well since the list is orginized by rating, and lets say I'm close to the top in ratings - I could make some good guesses on who else is in tournaments with me.

Yea, Andre Faria was in a bad situation. And like Pedro said, it's very hard to figure out bets like that when everyone has so many points left - even though that is probable the first time I've seen the last 3 players all over 10,000 points.

Yea, when you start to pay attention to what the higher ranked players are doing - almost every time it looks like they start out "bad".

For example, this pond: http://brainking.com/en/Pond?g=451

4 players rated over 2500 - highest after 2 rounds, 13th place. Then 15th, 15th, and 19th.

They must be doing something right!

Pond #500 - Signup now!

http://brainking.com/en/Pond?g=500&trnst=0